Open & Borrow, and: Choir

Open & Borrow

When I scarcely know what error of mindmade all brick, stucco, ravine, ale, and song failand all floorboards flee exceptwhere the shaking chair sat—Ridge Road and lichen, I borrow, I borrowthe herring we ate and the honey’s rash blanket,I open the maggot to borrow its mad borrowings,each needle’s mistake undone by hand I borrow that hand,I open a crisp rim in ice and borrow a stool, I borrow a life,a village, a man, I open him and he’s borrowing, too,I don’t need proof to climb this back staircaseuntil the bright mind opens and it’s true, and clear, I render,and ocean, no longer do I borrow you.

Choir

I once believed in heavenly clarity—do you know how good it feels to singof certainty, the wild apricotof the heart orange, large, full of reachat day’s unlatch?Inside the mouth, certaintyis a fruit breaking apart.That is how good it feels:We would have despised anyoneto keep our song.